December 16, 2025 • 45 mins
This episode of The Unity Code was not planned — and those are always the ones that hit the hardest.
After walking into a Catholic church for a funeral for the first time in over a decade, I had a full-body realization: the church makes the invisible feel undeniably real — not just through belief, but through the nervous system. The silence. The architecture. The rituals. The sitting, standing, kneeling. The repetition. The collective rhythm. Before a single prayer lands, your body already knows what to do.
In this episode, we unpack the psychology of faith and religion through the lens of somatic conditioning — how meaning is learned through posture, repetition, environment, rhythm, and emotion before logic. We explore how churches create safety to surrender, how authority is reinforced through structure and ritual, and why these experiences become socially sanctioned “truth.”
Then we go one step further: why is religion publicly accepted while mediumship is treated like a guilty secret? If both connect people to the unseen, what’s the real difference? (Spoiler: institutions mastered the body-based experience of the invisible.)
If you’re curious about nervous system regulation, ritual, spiritual authority, mediumship stigma, and why humans trust experience more than concepts — this one will blow your mind the way it blew mine.
Note: This is an exploration of psychology, somatics, and spiritual culture — not an attempt to change your faith. Take what resonates, leave the rest.
Keywords: psychology of religion, somatic conditioning, nervous system and faith, church ritual repetition, sitting standing kneeling, spiritual authority, mediumship stigma, making the invisible real, embodied belief, unity code podcast
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_01 (02:21):
Hello, everyone.
Welcome back to the Unity Code.
I have to be honest with all ofyou that this episode today is
completely not planned.
Which means it's going to be anamazing fucking episode because
that's how it always works whenI have no idea spirit is making
space for something big to come.
(02:44):
And boy, did they.
Because this morning I walkedinto a Catholic church for a
funeral.
It has been a very long timesince I walked into a Catholic
church.
There's been a lot of personalprocessing, a lot of sovereignty
that I've been going through, alot of shifting perspectives
(03:05):
about my beliefs in the spiritworld and the role that
religions play in that.
And also, I have to tell you, assoon as I stepped inside that
church today, it's like I neverleft the faith.
(03:29):
I walked in, and I knew exactlyhow to take the holy water, and
I knew how to bow politely atthe end of my pew.
And I sat down and I was able toeven know the phrases and
sayings that are so popular inthe Catholic faith, when to sit,
(03:53):
when to stand.
All of it came back to me, eventhough it has been years since I
had participated in any sort ofa Catholic activity, Catholic
ceremony, faith.
What do we call these?
I don't even know what they'recalled anymore.
That's how far how long I'vebeen out of the religion.
(04:14):
That's point taken, spirit,point taken.
But when you think about that,the fact that I've been out of
this practice for probably morethan a decade now.
I dabbled a little bit when mych children were young, mainly
because I wanted them to havesome sort of form of religion
(04:36):
and structure and faith.
And so it's been probably about10 years since I've stepped foot
in a Catholic church.
And yet all of the bodyresponses came back.
So I want you to think about it.
I want you to think about it.
And again, nope, I'm just gonnasay it.
(04:58):
I want you to imagine yourselfwalking inside a church.
For those of you that arefamiliar with what that feels
like and looks like, whathappens to you?
If you walked into a Catholicfuneral today, or funeral of
your faith today, would you knowexactly how to act?
(05:22):
Would you know exactly the toneof voice to use, the way you
should walk through thelocation, how your body would
respond to being there?
Because I'll tell you what, as Iwalked in the door of this
(05:45):
beautiful church today, Inaturally got quiet.
I naturally started walkingslower and more intentionally.
My head went down as I walked, Ialmost kind of moused in,
skulked in like I was little,right?
(06:06):
No one told me to do that.
I didn't I didn't just decide todo that.
My body automatically reacted.
And as I sat there in the pewwatching my dear friend bury her
family member, I caught myselfthinking this place makes the
(06:35):
invisible feel undeniably real.
People that walk in these doorsknow faith, no God, no religion,
effortlessly.
No one questions it.
It's part of our society.
And so as I sat there looking atthe two priests, the two
(07:00):
fathers, not literal, of course,because this is the Catholic
faith on the altar, it reallygot me thinking about their role
versus mine, about how these twomen chose to live their life
(07:25):
dedicated to faith and helpingothers and facilitating
critical, pivotal moments inpeople's lives, and being that
safe space for them totransition, especially in this
instance, into death, intobirths, to marriages, into
(07:50):
weekly routines and ceremoniesof celebrating their faith.
These two men's have made ittheir career to serve God and
serve the spiritual needs oftheir community.
(08:12):
Why are they socially acceptedwhile mediumship myself, who I
am also connecting to theunseen, I am also wanting to
serve my community in theirspiritual faith.
(08:32):
Why am I whispered about andtreated like a guilty secret?
Well, they get a palace.
That's what I want to unpacktoday.
And and before I go there,before I go there, I want to
highlight my intention is notnecessarily to change anyone's
(08:52):
perspective on religion.
Um, you are welcome to send mehate mail.
Just know that I love you.
I want everybody to continuetheir beliefs, and I want you to
listen to this podcast and takewhat resonates and throw what
doesn't out the door, out thewindow.
My intention is not to changeanyone's mind about their faith,
(09:12):
but I do want to talk about thepsychology behind faith and
religion and the church becauseI find that so fucking
interesting.
And before I start about why andhow churches make this invisible
(09:38):
thing feel so real for people, Iwant to talk about how belief
doesn't start in the mind, itstarts in the body.
And we're gonna talk about thatas I go through this.
I'm gonna give you lots ofexamples because before a prayer
is spoken, before theologyenters the room, before belief
even has a chance, the nervoussystem has already decided that
(10:00):
this is real, this matters, thisis safe to surrender to.
And so I'm gonna challenge theperspective that churches don't
convince you of God, because weall know there's a ton of people
that go to church that don'tbelieve in it.
But they give you the experienceof something bigger than
(12:29):
yourself.
And we are wired in our brain totrust experience.
Boom.
Um there here comes the hatemail.
Are you typing yet?
So let's talk, let's talk abouthow the churches train our
nervous system.
(12:49):
Okay.
Because the reality is thatchurches caused me an automatic
nervous system change, anautomatic behavior change just
by walking in the doors.
How did they do that?
Let's break down the sciencebehind that.
First things first, you walk in.
What's the first thing younotice when you go into a
church?
Is it the high ceilings?
(13:10):
Because that's what I look at.
The beautiful room that you'rein, even before you even walk in
the door, you can see typicallya beautiful stained glass on the
front and maybe on the sides.
You have these very highceilings.
You have very long aisles.
There's symmetry in mostchurches, there's stillness in
(13:33):
most churches.
Your eyes just start lookingaround, going up, and you know
what happens in a really bigspace, you start to feel
smaller.
But also because of thesymmetry, because of the
patterns that exist in thesechurches, you also feel held.
(13:59):
So your nervous system islooking at the physical space
before you even sit down andrealizing that you are literally
standing in something biggerthan yourself.
And yet your feet are on theground and you feel held in that
space.
Let's talk about the lack ofsound in a church, the
(14:21):
whispering that happens as soonas you walk in the door.
The baby I heard crying today atthe ceremony, right?
Everything is quiet in a church.
Footsteps echo.
You have the quiet whispers ofpeople.
What's meditation, everybody?
(14:43):
It's silence, it's quietness,it's reverence.
What happens in meditation?
What happens in the quiet?
You start to slow your breath.
You start to soften yourmuscles, you start to lower your
defenses.
That silence isn't empty.
(15:03):
It's literally regulating yournervous system.
It's literally calming andquieting your brain and removing
external noises and reactionsfrom your body.
Things that cause you to react,it's literally removing those
(15:24):
from your environment so thatyou have a moment to breathe and
think and hear for yourself.
Come to think of it, why did Istop going to church once I had
kids?
Damn.
Oh, I know why.
I know exactly why.
Because they put me in thatlittle room, the kids' room,
where it was soundproof.
So it was the exact opposite ofwhat a church experience should
(15:46):
be like because instead I wassitting in a quiet room with the
loud sounds of my childrenechoing off of it.
Never mind, I remember why Iquit.
Okay.
So as we're going through thisbeautiful ceremony today, this
beautiful services for myfriend, there came the sayings,
(16:10):
the movements, right?
The patterns, the repetition inthe service.
And as somebody who's been longout of the Catholic faith, I
think it's been over 10 yearssince I stood in a church, if I
remember correctly.
I think it's been over 10 years.
(16:31):
Everything still came back tome.
I knew what to say when.
I knew when to sit, when tostand, I knew how to find the
hymns in the book.
Right?
There's a predictability thatcomes with religions and faith.
That predictability makes ournervous system feel amazing,
(16:55):
feel safe, feel like you canfinally put your guard down,
your shoulders drop, you knowwhat to expect.
And that was absolutely truetoday when you clearly had the
people who go to church everyweek and knew when to sit and
stand before the priestindicated to the crowd that we
(17:18):
need to sit and stand.
Predictability creates nervoussystem regulation, calmness in
your energy.
And can we talk for a momentabout the movements?
About the fact that, yeah, thereis sitting, standing, and
(17:39):
kneeling, but you don't decidewhen you're doing that.
You follow the cues again.
So standing comes with this ideaof I'm going to show respect to
the authority of what is beingread right now.
And they typically happen withthe hymns and sermons, right?
Sitting is when, just like achild in school, you're supposed
(18:00):
to be sitting and re listeningand receiving.
And kneeling is when you arepraying and devoting and
surrendering to God.
And so through these motions,the sitting, the standing, the
kneeling, your body is literallybeing told how to feel, how to
(18:22):
react, how to respond.
And through the repetition ofnot knowing when and you
following the cues of that, youbecome, I'm gonna say it,
obedient.
You become listening.
There's no one in there thatdidn't do what the priest said
to do.
(18:43):
Even people that were witchessitting right next to me.
We still did what the priesttold us to do in terms of
sitting and standing andkneeling because we wanted to be
respectful.
But we are listening to theperson in charge.
(19:06):
We're being obedient to theirrequests.
And so what's interesting isthat that obedience doesn't feel
like obedience once it becomes arepetition.
It feels like a pattern, itfeels safe, it feels right, it
feels sacred.
This is how I celebrate my God.
This is how I show respect andlove and devotion to my God
(19:28):
through this repetition by beinga good student, by being an
obedient student, by doing whatwe have been asked to do.
There's a whole lot to unpackright there.
SPEAKER_00 (19:41):
I'm gonna keep on moving though.
And so a few other things Inoticed was that again, nobody
disobeyed what the priest askedus to do.
SPEAKER_01 (20:03):
There was this collective agreement that made
the experience cohesive and realin being part of a community.
When you add other people andeveryone moves together and
speaks together and listenstogether, there's cohesiveness,
there's synchronicity.
Not synchronicity.
(20:27):
Oh God, everybody.
Um, that's not the right word,synchrony.
Um and that does somethingprofound, it makes your nervous
system socially safe.
I belong, I'm not going to berejected.
And so that collective agreementturns your experience into a
(20:51):
shared reality.
So not only in your nervoussystem do you feel safe through
repetition, through um humbleand small, through the physical,
beautiful, tall structures, themarble altarpieces.
(21:12):
You feel reverent, right?
You're sitting and standing andyou're following and you're
listening.
And you have people all aroundyou doing it too.
And all of this together, all ofthis together makes your nervous
system.
(21:36):
Feel safe, feel whole, feelprotected.
And how does that feel in yourbody, everybody?
How does it feel in your body?
Maybe some of you are feeling alittle perturbed and upset and
having probably a negativeresponse to what I said because
(21:58):
of the realizations you mighthave just had.
But typically when you live init, when you go in a church and
you go through these patterns,your body relaxes.
And so, I'm gonna do it.
I'm gonna do it.
You're gonna get mad at me.
We're gonna go there anyway,because I want you to think
(22:20):
about where the authority sitsin a church.
Where is the priest?
He's in he's behind the altar.
Where is that?
A few steps above you.
SPEAKER_00 (22:31):
How do you hear him?
Through a microphone.
His voice is amplified.
SPEAKER_01 (22:47):
Is he asking you your opinion of God?
Your opinion of the Bible, or ishe telling you?
Right?
So you're learning that yourtruth in religion comes from the
man near the altar.
Or or woman, if you're in one ofthe faiths that have women
priests, right, right on, righton.
(23:09):
And so you're learning that yourtruth comes from the man on the
altar in the book, probablysitting next to you or hanging,
hanging in front of you on thepew in front of you.
Right?
So, this is not an intellectualexercise.
You have handed over yourauthority before your mind even
(23:30):
has an opportunity to ask anyquestions.
Damn, right?
Damn.
And so what seals the deal, Ithink.
If all of that wasn't enough tokeep people going to religion,
what seals the deal is when yougo to church, right?
(23:55):
There's a lot of emotion at mostof the experiences where you're
at church.
And I know that there's a lot ofpeople that go weekly, I get
that.
But for me, when do I go tochurch?
I go for baptisms, I go forfunerals, I go for weddings, I
go at very emotional points inpeople's lives.
They are anchored as the safespace in the most emotionally
(24:17):
volatile times of our livesandor the most emotionally high
moments of our lives.
Right.
And so when the emotionalHappens and is facilitated
through, let's be honest,because you don't get married
(24:37):
unless you go through theceremony.
I didn't, but I'm just statingthat as a to further my point.
Um, you don't get into heavenuntil you get baptized, right?
You don't get buried untilthere's a final closure through
the church.
When when these very bigemotional moments happen inside
(24:59):
this sacred container in thechurch, your nervous system
anchors the reality of theinstitution.
The nervous system anchors thereality of the institution.
(25:23):
Did I break you yet?
I'm so sorry if I did.
Because if we think about thebig picture, the big picture of
the church, it is set up in away to make your nervous system
feel regulated, to feel unifiedwith other people, to feel
(25:44):
receptive, to feel surrendered.
And here's the thing (25:50):
you don't surrender you because you
believe, you believe becauseyour body has already
surrendered.
And this is a thing.
It's called somaticconditioning, everybody.
This is a psychology term,somatic conditioning.
(26:11):
It's when meaning is learnedthrough posture and repetition
and rhythm and environment andemotion before logic, before
belief, before choice, becauseyour body feels if it's true,
safe and familiar.
And so in that moment of feelingsafe and familiar, you decide to
(26:33):
believe that this is true.
Boom, everybody, boom.
I know I'm gonna have to likepro this is this is the
processing that's going throughmy mind, and I can't like my
brain is still wrapping aroundthis.
And so shifting gears, why thefuck is medium treated any
(26:56):
differently?
Because we don't have theinstitutions, because we don't
have the physical place forpeople to know and feel the
presence of God, right?
Because we don't have thesebeautiful windows, we don't have
these big, amazing architecturewith imported marble, right?
Because we don't have thesequiet, reverent spaces where we
(27:19):
bring everybody at once toexperience and to amplify and to
anchor the energy of this sharedexperience with people.
Because we don't have theserhythms and routines of sitting
and kneeling and and andstanding, right?
(27:42):
And this goes back to a podcastepisode I listened to a few
weeks ago by the lovely SandraIngerman, who, if you if you
know her, you know.
If you don't, she's an amazingshamanic teacher.
Um, amazing, amazing, amazing.
And she's, I don't believe,offering any more classes, but
(28:06):
she has an amazing podcast whereshe really breaks down these
ideas.
And and I completely agree withher, and I completely agree with
what she said in this podcastepisode of spiritual healing and
the fact that we don't healpeople.
I I said it, I said it.
Metaphysical practitioners donot heal people.
(28:29):
We create the space and beliefof people to heal themselves.
And so in that podcast episode,she talked about how she doesn't
need anything to heal you,right?
To go through and create thatopen space for you to heal
yourself.
Let me rephrase that based onwhat I just said.
She doesn't need anythingbecause spirit can heal anything
(28:53):
at any time and anywhere.
And I think my podcast episodeshave proved that.
Spirit, when it decides it wantsto heal something, it's gone,
it's it's done.
The churches would call that amiracle, right?
But she said in this podcastepisode that people need the
physical routines and ceremoniesto make it feel real for them.
(29:18):
They need to anchor thisinvisible experience into a
physical experience.
And that's why she, in hershamanic practices, her shamanic
um sessions with people willbring rattles and drums and
music, right?
And incense.
(29:39):
And making this very invisiblething feel very real in the
body.
And spirit is making me jump towhy do we need that?
Why do we need that?
And I'm the number one proponentof I don't need anything to
connect with your departed lovedones.
I don't need anything to dothese shamanic healings on you.
(30:01):
I don't like we literally neednothing.
And and I this has been myfreaking stand for several years
now about all the tools that wethink we need in a metaphysical
standpoint.
We don't need any of them.
But that podcast and this churchexperience and this class I'm
(30:25):
taking.
I've taken a somatics class,everybody, somatic healing
class.
I think it's helping me come tothe realization that we need the
physical to make these feelreal.
We need the physical to convinceour mind that we have changed.
(30:51):
Because I can go and we can do ahealing session, and you can be
fine and perfect in an instant,we can heal that back of yours
in one instant.
But if we don't heal the nervoussystem and heal the routines and
embedded patterns within yourbrain as part of that as well,
you're just gonna go back tothinking.
You still have that problem, andwe all know your thoughts create
(31:14):
your reality, so it's just gonnacome back.
Oh, and so oh, I don't know.
Let me see if I can bring thistogether into like some sort of
a closing.
Let's be real that society doesnot accept the invisible.
(31:37):
It doesn't.
It accepts shared experiences,it accepts external authority
and structure and routines.
And the church made thatvisible.
It made the invisible publicrepeatable, socially sanctioned,
socially acceptable to the pointwhere there are nonprofits that
(31:59):
are supported by government.
Okay.
Meanwhile, mediumship has stayedpersonal.
It stayed internal, right?
It stayed unsanctioned, itstayed quiet through not wanting
to share the social experiences.
And that difference matterspsychologically.
(32:22):
And so this isn't necessarilytalking about how churches are
wrong or mediumship is right.
It's understanding that the bodyis how humans experience the
unseen.
And institutions master that.
(35:35):
Step two is bringing thatinformation and energy back into
your body and recognizing yourown authority, your own power,
your own truth within your ownbody.
And everything else falls away.
(35:57):
Okay.
And that is something I'm goingto be working on.
Moving into my body, moving intomy truth and understanding and
playing with this idea of howcan I make the invisible feel
more real for my clients, forall of you.
(36:25):
Because that is the way we'regoing to move forward.
That is the way we are going tochange our faith, change our
religions, change our cultures,change our way of being is by
bringing that displaced energyback into our own bodies and
reclaiming our sovereignty.
(36:46):
Um, okay, my mind is officiallyblown.
I'm gonna go sit in the corner,rocking chair, and just like
mull this over a million times.
But I hope this was anintriguing episode for all of
you.
I'm pretty sure I'm gonna bemulling this over for weeks.
If you have responses,questions, I would love to hear
it.
Did this hit?
Did it not hit?
Are you angry at me?
(37:06):
I'm fine with all of thesereactions because you know what?
You feel it in your body, andthat's your truth.
So I'm gonna leave that with allof you.
From my amazing day, amazingrevelations to yours.
I send you all the love and Iwill see you soon here on the
Unity Code.
Take care.
Hello, everyone.
Welcome back to the Unity Code.
I have to be honest with all ofyou that this episode today is
completely not planned.
Which means it's going to be anamazing fucking episode because
that's how it always works whenI have no idea spirit is making
space for something big to come.
(02:44):
And boy, did they.
Because this morning I walkedinto a Catholic church for a
funeral.
It has been a very long timesince I walked into a Catholic
church.
There's been a lot of personalprocessing, a lot of sovereignty
that I've been going through, alot of shifting perspectives
(03:05):
about my beliefs in the spiritworld and the role that
religions play in that.
And also, I have to tell you, assoon as I stepped inside that
church today, it's like I neverleft the faith.
(03:29):
I walked in, and I knew exactlyhow to take the holy water, and
I knew how to bow politely atthe end of my pew.
And I sat down and I was able toeven know the phrases and
sayings that are so popular inthe Catholic faith, when to sit,
(03:53):
when to stand.
All of it came back to me, eventhough it has been years since I
had participated in any sort ofa Catholic activity, Catholic
ceremony, faith.
What do we call these?
I don't even know what they'recalled anymore.
That's how far how long I'vebeen out of the religion.
(04:14):
That's point taken, spirit,point taken.
But when you think about that,the fact that I've been out of
this practice for probably morethan a decade now.
I dabbled a little bit when mych children were young, mainly
because I wanted them to havesome sort of form of religion
(04:36):
and structure and faith.
And so it's been probably about10 years since I've stepped foot
in a Catholic church.
And yet all of the bodyresponses came back.
So I want you to think about it.
I want you to think about it.
And again, nope, I'm just gonnasay it.
(04:58):
I want you to imagine yourselfwalking inside a church.
For those of you that arefamiliar with what that feels
like and looks like, whathappens to you?
If you walked into a Catholicfuneral today, or funeral of
your faith today, would you knowexactly how to act?
(05:22):
Would you know exactly the toneof voice to use, the way you
should walk through thelocation, how your body would
respond to being there?
Because I'll tell you what, as Iwalked in the door of this
(05:45):
beautiful church today, Inaturally got quiet.
I naturally started walkingslower and more intentionally.
My head went down as I walked, Ialmost kind of moused in,
skulked in like I was little,right?
(06:06):
No one told me to do that.
I didn't I didn't just decide todo that.
My body automatically reacted.
And as I sat there in the pewwatching my dear friend bury her
family member, I caught myselfthinking this place makes the
(06:35):
invisible feel undeniably real.
People that walk in these doorsknow faith, no God, no religion,
effortlessly.
No one questions it.
It's part of our society.
And so as I sat there looking atthe two priests, the two
(07:00):
fathers, not literal, of course,because this is the Catholic
faith on the altar, it reallygot me thinking about their role
versus mine, about how these twomen chose to live their life
(07:25):
dedicated to faith and helpingothers and facilitating
critical, pivotal moments inpeople's lives, and being that
safe space for them totransition, especially in this
instance, into death, intobirths, to marriages, into
(07:50):
weekly routines and ceremoniesof celebrating their faith.
These two men's have made ittheir career to serve God and
serve the spiritual needs oftheir community.
(08:12):
Why are they socially acceptedwhile mediumship myself, who I
am also connecting to theunseen, I am also wanting to
serve my community in theirspiritual faith.
(08:32):
Why am I whispered about andtreated like a guilty secret?
Well, they get a palace.
That's what I want to unpacktoday.
And and before I go there,before I go there, I want to
highlight my intention is notnecessarily to change anyone's
(08:52):
perspective on religion.
Um, you are welcome to send mehate mail.
Just know that I love you.
I want everybody to continuetheir beliefs, and I want you to
listen to this podcast and takewhat resonates and throw what
doesn't out the door, out thewindow.
My intention is not to changeanyone's mind about their faith,
(09:12):
but I do want to talk about thepsychology behind faith and
religion and the church becauseI find that so fucking
interesting.
And before I start about why andhow churches make this invisible
(09:38):
thing feel so real for people, Iwant to talk about how belief
doesn't start in the mind, itstarts in the body.
And we're gonna talk about thatas I go through this.
I'm gonna give you lots ofexamples because before a prayer
is spoken, before theologyenters the room, before belief
even has a chance, the nervoussystem has already decided that
(10:00):
this is real, this matters, thisis safe to surrender to.
And so I'm gonna challenge theperspective that churches don't
convince you of God, because weall know there's a ton of people
that go to church that don'tbelieve in it.
But they give you the experienceof something bigger than
(12:29):
yourself.
And we are wired in our brain totrust experience.
Boom.
Um there here comes the hatemail.
Are you typing yet?
So let's talk, let's talk abouthow the churches train our
nervous system.
(12:49):
Okay.
Because the reality is thatchurches caused me an automatic
nervous system change, anautomatic behavior change just
by walking in the doors.
How did they do that?
Let's break down the sciencebehind that.
First things first, you walk in.
What's the first thing younotice when you go into a
church?
Is it the high ceilings?
(13:10):
Because that's what I look at.
The beautiful room that you'rein, even before you even walk in
the door, you can see typicallya beautiful stained glass on the
front and maybe on the sides.
You have these very highceilings.
You have very long aisles.
There's symmetry in mostchurches, there's stillness in
(13:33):
most churches.
Your eyes just start lookingaround, going up, and you know
what happens in a really bigspace, you start to feel
smaller.
But also because of thesymmetry, because of the
patterns that exist in thesechurches, you also feel held.
(13:59):
So your nervous system islooking at the physical space
before you even sit down andrealizing that you are literally
standing in something biggerthan yourself.
And yet your feet are on theground and you feel held in that
space.
Let's talk about the lack ofsound in a church, the
(14:21):
whispering that happens as soonas you walk in the door.
The baby I heard crying today atthe ceremony, right?
Everything is quiet in a church.
Footsteps echo.
You have the quiet whispers ofpeople.
What's meditation, everybody?
(14:43):
It's silence, it's quietness,it's reverence.
What happens in meditation?
What happens in the quiet?
You start to slow your breath.
You start to soften yourmuscles, you start to lower your
defenses.
That silence isn't empty.
(15:03):
It's literally regulating yournervous system.
It's literally calming andquieting your brain and removing
external noises and reactionsfrom your body.
Things that cause you to react,it's literally removing those
(15:24):
from your environment so thatyou have a moment to breathe and
think and hear for yourself.
Come to think of it, why did Istop going to church once I had
kids?
Damn.
Oh, I know why.
I know exactly why.
Because they put me in thatlittle room, the kids' room,
where it was soundproof.
So it was the exact opposite ofwhat a church experience should
(15:46):
be like because instead I wassitting in a quiet room with the
loud sounds of my childrenechoing off of it.
Never mind, I remember why Iquit.
Okay.
So as we're going through thisbeautiful ceremony today, this
beautiful services for myfriend, there came the sayings,
(16:10):
the movements, right?
The patterns, the repetition inthe service.
And as somebody who's been longout of the Catholic faith, I
think it's been over 10 yearssince I stood in a church, if I
remember correctly.
I think it's been over 10 years.
(16:31):
Everything still came back tome.
I knew what to say when.
I knew when to sit, when tostand, I knew how to find the
hymns in the book.
Right?
There's a predictability thatcomes with religions and faith.
That predictability makes ournervous system feel amazing,
(16:55):
feel safe, feel like you canfinally put your guard down,
your shoulders drop, you knowwhat to expect.
And that was absolutely truetoday when you clearly had the
people who go to church everyweek and knew when to sit and
stand before the priestindicated to the crowd that we
(17:18):
need to sit and stand.
Predictability creates nervoussystem regulation, calmness in
your energy.
And can we talk for a momentabout the movements?
About the fact that, yeah, thereis sitting, standing, and
(17:39):
kneeling, but you don't decidewhen you're doing that.
You follow the cues again.
So standing comes with this ideaof I'm going to show respect to
the authority of what is beingread right now.
And they typically happen withthe hymns and sermons, right?
Sitting is when, just like achild in school, you're supposed
(18:00):
to be sitting and re listeningand receiving.
And kneeling is when you arepraying and devoting and
surrendering to God.
And so through these motions,the sitting, the standing, the
kneeling, your body is literallybeing told how to feel, how to
(18:22):
react, how to respond.
And through the repetition ofnot knowing when and you
following the cues of that, youbecome, I'm gonna say it,
obedient.
You become listening.
There's no one in there thatdidn't do what the priest said
to do.
(18:43):
Even people that were witchessitting right next to me.
We still did what the priesttold us to do in terms of
sitting and standing andkneeling because we wanted to be
respectful.
But we are listening to theperson in charge.
(19:06):
We're being obedient to theirrequests.
And so what's interesting isthat that obedience doesn't feel
like obedience once it becomes arepetition.
It feels like a pattern, itfeels safe, it feels right, it
feels sacred.
This is how I celebrate my God.
This is how I show respect andlove and devotion to my God
(19:28):
through this repetition by beinga good student, by being an
obedient student, by doing whatwe have been asked to do.
There's a whole lot to unpackright there.
SPEAKER_00 (19:41):
I'm gonna keep on moving though.
And so a few other things Inoticed was that again, nobody
disobeyed what the priest askedus to do.
SPEAKER_01 (20:03):
There was this collective agreement that made
the experience cohesive and realin being part of a community.
When you add other people andeveryone moves together and
speaks together and listenstogether, there's cohesiveness,
there's synchronicity.
Not synchronicity.
(20:27):
Oh God, everybody.
Um, that's not the right word,synchrony.
Um and that does somethingprofound, it makes your nervous
system socially safe.
I belong, I'm not going to berejected.
And so that collective agreementturns your experience into a
(20:51):
shared reality.
So not only in your nervoussystem do you feel safe through
repetition, through um humbleand small, through the physical,
beautiful, tall structures, themarble altarpieces.
(21:12):
You feel reverent, right?
You're sitting and standing andyou're following and you're
listening.
And you have people all aroundyou doing it too.
And all of this together, all ofthis together makes your nervous
system.
(21:36):
Feel safe, feel whole, feelprotected.
And how does that feel in yourbody, everybody?
How does it feel in your body?
Maybe some of you are feeling alittle perturbed and upset and
having probably a negativeresponse to what I said because
(21:58):
of the realizations you mighthave just had.
But typically when you live init, when you go in a church and
you go through these patterns,your body relaxes.
And so, I'm gonna do it.
I'm gonna do it.
You're gonna get mad at me.
We're gonna go there anyway,because I want you to think
(22:20):
about where the authority sitsin a church.
Where is the priest?
He's in he's behind the altar.
Where is that?
A few steps above you.
SPEAKER_00 (22:31):
How do you hear him?
Through a microphone.
His voice is amplified.
SPEAKER_01 (22:47):
Is he asking you your opinion of God?
Your opinion of the Bible, or ishe telling you?
Right?
So you're learning that yourtruth in religion comes from the
man near the altar.
Or or woman, if you're in one ofthe faiths that have women
priests, right, right on, righton.
(23:09):
And so you're learning that yourtruth comes from the man on the
altar in the book, probablysitting next to you or hanging,
hanging in front of you on thepew in front of you.
Right?
So, this is not an intellectualexercise.
You have handed over yourauthority before your mind even
(23:30):
has an opportunity to ask anyquestions.
Damn, right?
Damn.
And so what seals the deal, Ithink.
If all of that wasn't enough tokeep people going to religion,
what seals the deal is when yougo to church, right?
(23:55):
There's a lot of emotion at mostof the experiences where you're
at church.
And I know that there's a lot ofpeople that go weekly, I get
that.
But for me, when do I go tochurch?
I go for baptisms, I go forfunerals, I go for weddings, I
go at very emotional points inpeople's lives.
They are anchored as the safespace in the most emotionally
(24:17):
volatile times of our livesandor the most emotionally high
moments of our lives.
Right.
And so when the emotionalHappens and is facilitated
through, let's be honest,because you don't get married
(24:37):
unless you go through theceremony.
I didn't, but I'm just statingthat as a to further my point.
Um, you don't get into heavenuntil you get baptized, right?
You don't get buried untilthere's a final closure through
the church.
When when these very bigemotional moments happen inside
(24:59):
this sacred container in thechurch, your nervous system
anchors the reality of theinstitution.
The nervous system anchors thereality of the institution.
(25:23):
Did I break you yet?
I'm so sorry if I did.
Because if we think about thebig picture, the big picture of
the church, it is set up in away to make your nervous system
feel regulated, to feel unifiedwith other people, to feel
(25:44):
receptive, to feel surrendered.
And here's the thing (25:50):
you don't surrender you because you
believe, you believe becauseyour body has already
surrendered.
And this is a thing.
It's called somaticconditioning, everybody.
This is a psychology term,somatic conditioning.
(26:11):
It's when meaning is learnedthrough posture and repetition
and rhythm and environment andemotion before logic, before
belief, before choice, becauseyour body feels if it's true,
safe and familiar.
And so in that moment of feelingsafe and familiar, you decide to
(26:33):
believe that this is true.
Boom, everybody, boom.
I know I'm gonna have to likepro this is this is the
processing that's going throughmy mind, and I can't like my
brain is still wrapping aroundthis.
And so shifting gears, why thefuck is medium treated any
(26:56):
differently?
Because we don't have theinstitutions, because we don't
have the physical place forpeople to know and feel the
presence of God, right?
Because we don't have thesebeautiful windows, we don't have
these big, amazing architecturewith imported marble, right?
Because we don't have thesequiet, reverent spaces where we
(27:19):
bring everybody at once toexperience and to amplify and to
anchor the energy of this sharedexperience with people.
Because we don't have theserhythms and routines of sitting
and kneeling and and andstanding, right?
(27:42):
And this goes back to a podcastepisode I listened to a few
weeks ago by the lovely SandraIngerman, who, if you if you
know her, you know.
If you don't, she's an amazingshamanic teacher.
Um, amazing, amazing, amazing.
And she's, I don't believe,offering any more classes, but
(28:06):
she has an amazing podcast whereshe really breaks down these
ideas.
And and I completely agree withher, and I completely agree with
what she said in this podcastepisode of spiritual healing and
the fact that we don't healpeople.
I I said it, I said it.
Metaphysical practitioners donot heal people.
(28:29):
We create the space and beliefof people to heal themselves.
And so in that podcast episode,she talked about how she doesn't
need anything to heal you,right?
To go through and create thatopen space for you to heal
yourself.
Let me rephrase that based onwhat I just said.
She doesn't need anythingbecause spirit can heal anything
(28:53):
at any time and anywhere.
And I think my podcast episodeshave proved that.
Spirit, when it decides it wantsto heal something, it's gone,
it's it's done.
The churches would call that amiracle, right?
But she said in this podcastepisode that people need the
physical routines and ceremoniesto make it feel real for them.
(29:18):
They need to anchor thisinvisible experience into a
physical experience.
And that's why she, in hershamanic practices, her shamanic
um sessions with people willbring rattles and drums and
music, right?
And incense.
(29:39):
And making this very invisiblething feel very real in the
body.
And spirit is making me jump towhy do we need that?
Why do we need that?
And I'm the number one proponentof I don't need anything to
connect with your departed lovedones.
I don't need anything to dothese shamanic healings on you.
(30:01):
I don't like we literally neednothing.
And and I this has been myfreaking stand for several years
now about all the tools that wethink we need in a metaphysical
standpoint.
We don't need any of them.
But that podcast and this churchexperience and this class I'm
(30:25):
taking.
I've taken a somatics class,everybody, somatic healing
class.
I think it's helping me come tothe realization that we need the
physical to make these feelreal.
We need the physical to convinceour mind that we have changed.
(30:51):
Because I can go and we can do ahealing session, and you can be
fine and perfect in an instant,we can heal that back of yours
in one instant.
But if we don't heal the nervoussystem and heal the routines and
embedded patterns within yourbrain as part of that as well,
you're just gonna go back tothinking.
You still have that problem, andwe all know your thoughts create
(31:14):
your reality, so it's just gonnacome back.
Oh, and so oh, I don't know.
Let me see if I can bring thistogether into like some sort of
a closing.
Let's be real that society doesnot accept the invisible.
(31:37):
It doesn't.
It accepts shared experiences,it accepts external authority
and structure and routines.
And the church made thatvisible.
It made the invisible publicrepeatable, socially sanctioned,
socially acceptable to the pointwhere there are nonprofits that
(31:59):
are supported by government.
Okay.
Meanwhile, mediumship has stayedpersonal.
It stayed internal, right?
It stayed unsanctioned, itstayed quiet through not wanting
to share the social experiences.
And that difference matterspsychologically.
(32:22):
And so this isn't necessarilytalking about how churches are
wrong or mediumship is right.
It's understanding that the bodyis how humans experience the
unseen.
And institutions master that.
(35:35):
Step two is bringing thatinformation and energy back into
your body and recognizing yourown authority, your own power,
your own truth within your ownbody.
And everything else falls away.
(35:57):
Okay.
And that is something I'm goingto be working on.
Moving into my body, moving intomy truth and understanding and
playing with this idea of howcan I make the invisible feel
more real for my clients, forall of you.
(36:25):
Because that is the way we'regoing to move forward.
That is the way we are going tochange our faith, change our
religions, change our cultures,change our way of being is by
bringing that displaced energyback into our own bodies and
reclaiming our sovereignty.
(36:46):
Um, okay, my mind is officiallyblown.
I'm gonna go sit in the corner,rocking chair, and just like
mull this over a million times.
But I hope this was anintriguing episode for all of
you.
I'm pretty sure I'm gonna bemulling this over for weeks.
If you have responses,questions, I would love to hear
it.
Did this hit?
Did it not hit?
Are you angry at me?
(37:06):
I'm fine with all of thesereactions because you know what?
You feel it in your body, andthat's your truth.
So I'm gonna leave that with allof you.
From my amazing day, amazingrevelations to yours.
I send you all the love and Iwill see you soon here on the
Unity Code.
Take care.
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